James



(Modeli) J. G. COVERT.

Rope Clamp.-

No. 236,557. Patented Jan. 11, 1881.

131% ami L N.PETERS. PHOTD-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D c,

UNITE rates JAMES C. COVERT, OF WEST TROY, NEW YORK.

ROPE-CLAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,557, dated January 11, 1881 Application filed October 29, 1880.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES O. COVERT, of West Troy, in the county of Albany, and in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clamp-Thimbles for Ropes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in metallic thimbles for ropes and cordage, and to the method of manufacturing the same. In order to manufacture such thimbles economically it is necessary to make them, as far as possible, by machinery, and the main object of my invention is to facilitate the machine work on such thimbles, and to obviate to a great extent the hand manipulation at present required in their construction. As now made, great difficulty is experienced in forming the female screw-thread in the boss at the side of the thimble for the reception of the screw employed for clamping the thimble upon the rope, owing to the limited extent to which the screw-top can enter the boss on account of the obstruction offered by the side of the thimble opposite the boss. A further objection is also found in the fact that the clamping-screws as made by the existing machinery provided for the purpose, being of unequal length, are in some cases threaded to a greater extent than others. In such cases the screw abuts against the wall before it is fully tightened in its seat, and is therefore apt to work out and be lost.

My invention has as an additional object to obviate these defects, and such objects I attain by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings and method of manufacture hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure represents a longitudinal vertical section of my improved thimble, showing the same applied to a rope, the rope being shown in section immediately around the clamping-screw. Fig. 2 represents a detached perspective view of the thimble. Fig. 3 represents a transverse vertical section of the thimble, and Fig. 4 represents elevations of the core-box used in forming the core to be employed in casting the thimble.

(Model.)

The letter A indicates my improved thimble, consisting of a short tubular section having a boss, B, on one side, which is formed with a female screw-thread to en gagethe male threaded clamping-screw C.

The letter D indicates an opening in the wall of the thimble of sufficient diameter to permit the passage of the clamping-screw into the same and the passage of the screw-tap employed in the construction of the female screw-thread through it, for the purposes hereinafter described.

In constructing my improved thimble I first roughly cast it in metal in the usual sand molds, employing a core for the formation of the passages, which core is formed in a corebox, (indicated by the letters E, Fig. 4, of the drawings,) that portion of the core formingthe opening at the side of the thimble being somewhat larger than the part forming the opening in the boss, to allow for the threading in the boss.

To form the screw-thread in the boss a taper tap is used of sufficient length to cut the threads very gradually, so as to permit the thimble to be readily centered on said tap, and to allow several of them to be placed on the tap successively. The tap is mounted on a rotating spindle chucked to a lathe or other spindle, the rotating spindle being of the same or less diameter than the largest diameter of the screw-tap, so that the thimbles, as fast as threaded, may be passed off onto said spindle to make room for more on the screwtap. By this means the necessity of retracting the tap from each thimble after threading is thus obviated, thus saving much valuable time. The spindle, when full of the thimbles, is detached, the thimbles removed all together, after which the tap and spindle are again mounted for further use. I

It is evident at aglance that the clampingscrew, however long, cannot bind at its end, as it will pass into the aperture at the side of the thimble.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

As a new article of manufacture, the withindescribed rope-clamping device, consisting of a tubular section, A, having an internally screw-threaded boss, 13, on one side, an opposite aperture, D, formed in the other, and a have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of pointed screw-threaded clamp, 0, Working in October, 1880. the said boss, and its pointed end adapted to pass through the rope and enter the opposite JAMES COVERT 5 aperture, substantially as and for the purposes Witnesses set forth.

J. J. MCCARTHY, In testimony'that I claim the foregoing I (J. M. ALEXANDER. 

